This invention relates to a closing element for a roller shutter as well as a movable wall for a roller shutter comprising the closing element.
More specifically, the closing elements for a roller shutter to which reference is made are those used in the field of elements for closing accesses or rooms (such as, for example, garages, shops, workshops, etc.) for making closing systems, including roller shutters.
Roller shutters usually comprise:
a shaft positioned at the upper end of the opening of the access to be closed and fixed to a pair of plates are associated with (connected) to the corresponding vertical wall delimiting the opening of the access;
a movable “sheet” (or wall) associated with the shaft and which can be wound about the shaft, which may, if required, slide in lateral guides positioned on the vertical walls delimiting the opening of the access;
a motor for driving the shaft, to open and close the access opening.
The movable sheet usually comprises a succession of closing elements of elongate shape, and generally positioned in a horizontal direction, and a series of longitudinal bars which are inserted one at a time into respective connecting sockets made along the longitudinal edges of the plate-like closing elements.
In this way it is possible to slide each bar inside the sockets, aligned with each other, of pairs of consecutive plate-like closing elements. By repeating this procedure it is possible to obtain a longitudinal link and plate-like closing elements which define the movable sheet for the roller shutter.
Moreover, there are solutions wherein each closing element may be in turn defined by a series of closing elements aligned in a horizontal direction, in which the closing elements of each row are all connected, on each side, to a respective common connecting bar.
In this configuration, connecting rods may also be interposed between one closing element and the next having at the relative ends ring-shaped passages to be inserted on the longitudinal bars.
In order to fit the movable sheet the operator must make a link according to a precise predetermined pattern, by inserting in a sliding fashion each plate-like closing element and/or each connecting mechanism on the basis of a sequential assembly order proceeding by rows.
An error during installation, or a change during the operations, may result in the need to remove the link and repeat the installation operations from the beginning.
Once installed, in the case of maintenance, if a plate-like closing element or a connecting mechanism must be replaced it is necessary to withdraw at least the row in which piece to be replaced is located and then refit the row by reinserting the pieces removed; these operations, as well as being laborious, require considerable time.
Moreover, each installation of existing roller shutters are made with movable sheets only having longitudinal bars and connecting bars. These solutions leave the shutter equipped with a mainly open part, leaving the space behind on view.
If for any reason a user wanted the sheets of these shutters to be fitted with plate-like closing elements, for example to prevent a third party from throwing objects or inserting their hands through the shutter from an environment outside the access to one inside, the movable sheet would ned to be removed completely to be able to insert a plate-like closing element of the type described above between one connecting rod mechanism and the next.